Human Behavior in Organizations

Session 20
 What Is Stress?

[Stress] – An adaptive response to an external situation that

results in physical, psychological, and/or behavioural deviations.

[Stressor ] – the person or event that triggers the stress response.

• Challenge Stressors: Stressors associated with workload, pressure to
complete tasks, and time urgency.

• Hindrance Stressors: Stressors that keep you from reaching your

goals ( for example, red tape, office politics, confusion over job
responsibilities).
• Typically, stress is associated with resources and
demands.
– Demands are responsibilities, pressures, obligations,
and uncertainties individuals face in the workplace.

Homeostatic, or balanced equilibrium perspective :

Individuals are seeking a steady state in which
demands perfectly match resources.
 Allostasis

• Allostatic model : Demands shift, resources shift, and systems of addressing

imbalances shift.

• By allostasis, we work to find stability by changing our behaviours and

attitudes.

• Organizations are in a constant state of change and flux, we respond to

stress processes by continually adapting to both internal and external

sources, and our stability is constantly redefined.

Model of Stress

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 Potential Sources of Stress

• Environmental factors

– Economic uncertainties

– Political uncertainties

– Technological uncertainty
 Potential Sources of Stress

• Organizational factors

– Task demands : design of the individual’s job (autonomy,

task variety, degree of automation), working conditions,
and the physical work layout.

– Role demands

– Interpersonal demands are pressures created by other

employees.
Job Strain Model
Stress at Work

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Potential Sources of Stress
 PSYCHOANALYTIC

STRESS

Discrepancy between the idealized self

and the real self-image
 The Stress Response
Activation of
Release of chemical sympathetic
messengers nervous and
endocrine
systems
Stress at Work

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 Moderating Factors

Individual Differences
• Perception

• Job experience

• Social support

• Personality traits

– Neuroticism

– Workaholism

– Type A and Type B

Individual Differences

Achilles’ heel
phenomenon –
a person breaks down at
his or her weakest point
 Type A Behavior Patterns

• Competitiveness
• Time urgency
• Social Status Insecurity
• Aggression
• Hostility
• Quest for achievements
 Personality Hardiness

[Personality Hardiness] : set of beliefs about oneself and the world

one lives in. Hardier persons take control of their lives, believe that
commitment to goals will result in positive outcomes, and
perceive daily stressors as challenges.
– challenge (versus threat)
– commitment (versus alienation)
– control (versus powerlessness)
[Transformational Coping]
active process of modifying one’s perception of an event in order to
reduce stress.
 Self-Reliance
Self-Reliance – a healthy, secure, interdependent pattern of behavior
related to how people form and maintain supportive attachments
with others

Counterdependence – an unhealthy, insecure pattern of behavior that

leads to separation in relationships with other people

Overdependence – an unhealthy, insecure pattern of behavior that

leads to preoccupied attempts to achieve security through
relationships.
 Moderating Factors

• Cultural Differences
– Research suggests the job conditions that cause stress show
some differences across cultures.

• U.S. employees are stressed by a lack of control, whereas

Chinese employees are stressed by job evaluations and
lack of training.

– Research also shows that stress is equally bad for employees

of all cultures.

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 Consequences of Stress at Work

– Physiological Symptoms: research supports the link

between job stress and poor health.
– Psychological Symptoms: job dissatisfaction is an
obvious cause of stress.
– Behavioral Symptoms: reductions in productivity,
absence, turnover, as well as changes in eating
habits, increased smoking and/or consumption of
alcohol, rapid speech, fidgeting, and sleep disorders.
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Yerkes-Dodson Law
– Because low to moderate levels of stress can be functional
and lead to higher performance, management may not be
concerned when employees experience stress at these levels.

– What management may consider to be “a positive stimulus

that keeps the adrenaline running” is very likely to be seen as
“excessive pressure” by the employee.

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 Managing Stress at Work
• Individual Approaches

– An employee can take personal responsibility for reducing

stress levels.

– Individual strategies include:

• Time-management techniques.

• Increased physical exercise.

• Relaxation training.

• Expanded social support networks.

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Social Support at Work and Home
 Managing Stress at Work

• Organizational Approaches

– Several organizational factors that cause stress

are controlled by management.

• Task and role demands can be modified or

changed.

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 Managing Stress at Work

• Selection and Placement

– Individuals with little experience or an external
locus of control tend to be more prone to
stress.
– Selection and placement decisions should take
these facts into consideration.

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 Managing Stress at Work

• Goal-setting

– Goals can reduce stress as well as provide

motivation.

– Employees who are highly committed to their

goals and see purpose in their jobs experience less
stress.

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 Managing Stress at Work

• Redesigning Jobs

– Redesigning jobs to give employees more

responsibility, more meaningful work, more
autonomy, and increased feedback can reduce
stress because these factors give employees
greater control over work activities and lessen
dependence on others.
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 Managing Stress at Work

• Employee involvement

– Role stress is detrimental to a large extent because

employees feel uncertain about goals, expectations, how
they’ll be evaluated, and the like.

• Giving employees a voice in management decisions can

increase employee control and reduce role stress.

• Managers should consider increasing employee

involvement in decision making.

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 Managing Stress at Work

• Organizational Communication

– Increasing formal organizational communication with

employees reduces uncertainty by lessening role ambiguity and
role conflict.

– management can also use effective communications as a

means to shape employee perceptions.

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 Managing Stress at Work

• Employee sabbaticals

– Some employees need an occasional escape from the

frenetic pace of their work.

– These sabbaticals—ranging in length from a few weeks

to several months—allow employees to travel, relax, or
pursue personal projects that consume time beyond
normal vacations.

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 Managing Stress at Work

• Corporate wellness programs

– Typically provide workshops to help people quit smoking,

control alcohol use, lose weight, eat better, and develop a
regular exercise program.

– Focus on the employee’s total physical and mental condition.

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 Implications for Managers

• Some stress is good. Learn how to create healthy stress

without distress.

• Low to moderate amounts of stress enable many people to

perform their jobs better by increasing their work intensity,
alertness, and ability to react.

• Be aware of gender, personality, and behavioral differences

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 Implications for Managers

• You can help alleviate harmful workplace stress for your

employees by accurately matching work-loads to
employees, providing employees with stress-coping
resources, and responding to their concerns.

• You can identify extreme stress in your employees when

performance declines, turnover increases, health-related
absenteeism increases, and engagement declines. Stay
alert for early indicators and be proactive.
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